


A house isn't a home when its empty

by SkinnyElephant



Series: Short stories [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aging, Alphys the buddy, Angst, Asgore the king, Character Death, Death, Frisk the human, Future, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mettaton the idol, No resets, Old frisk, Other, Papyrus the quiet, Papyrus-centric, Sad, Sans the brother, Time moves on, Toriel the graceful, Undertale Pacifist Route, Undyne the bestie, after barrier breaks, dying, here you go, i guess, many character death, no relationships - Freeform, only 2, thats what i do, time jumps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8458987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkinnyElephant/pseuds/SkinnyElephant
Summary: He thought living on his own would be great, when he was younger he even had dreams of maybe moving to the city and opening a restaurant.  He knows now that living on his own is anything but great.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Got a thing for you. 
> 
> want a thing? heres a thing. Happy November everyone.
> 
> Especially if its not November when youre reading this. HAPPY NOVEMBER.
> 
> ....I'm very tired...
> 
> Happy reading guys
> 
> S.E.
> 
> EDIT: I found the fic that inspired this! http://archiveofourown.org/works/6624577 its super sad and I love it!! check it out will you?

The sun filtered in through curtains that hung on the window nearest the head of the bed. Golden rays shone over a long skeletal face, effectively waking him from his restful sleep. Papyrus grunted and clenched his sockets tighter while he stretched and popped his elbows, sluggishly sitting up he twisted and popped his spine; rubbed at his left socket with a closed fist and yawned. Looking out the near window onto the green grass of backyard of his house he enjoyed the sight of rabbits and birds living their wild life. He was slow to rise from his bed, reluctant almost. Back underground he felt that everything had to be done as fast as possible. Coming to the surface he learned that sometimes a skeleton needs to take a break and slow down. So he enjoyed his nightly naps and the sun rises. He made sure to leave the wash for Sundays and dishes only at night. Vacuuming and such weren’t needed as often as he’d once thought. He didn’t go all out trying to impress everyone with his cooking, sometimes if he had friends over they’d order pizza or another kind of take out. He had once thought sans was crazy for being so lazy, he’d once called it, and taking things so slowly. Its more comfortable and relaxing not yelling and keeping wound up all the time.

It had been 9 years, he recalled, still taking in the view from his window, since young frisk dropped the barrier. Well, they weren't young anymore. Humans grow so fast, its so weird compared to monsters.  Young frisk has just about become young adult frisk. They'd move away and gone to college recently. Papyrus worried about them leaving and living so far away. Would they forget about them? The monsters that they had freed? Would they forget about Toriel? Would they forget about him or sans? He hoped not, the small human and himself had become good friends in the years since the barrier’s breaking. 

Papyrus drew his covered kneels to his chest and rested his arms on them, lost in his thoughts he stared at the wall opposite where he sat. Bird's chirping and the occasional passing car was enough white noise to keep him from falling back asleep. He thought about the things the human would see and the people they would meet. They were lucky, Papyrus wanted to travel too. The first time he'd thought to look at a clock was when the alarm on his phone went off for work, it was 11:10. He'd have his first shift of the day in forty minutes. Placing the phone back on the side table he gathered his thoughts and found the will to throw the blanket off and start his day.

He'd say he's never lazed about this late but it'd be a lie. He has, he actually slept through an alarm once and his boss was so angry that he got sent home early. He ended up finding a new job after that. He knew the boss was just looking for a reason to fire him and it looked better to quit than to get fired he thought. The boss wasn’t upset to see him leave, his co-workers were though. Some exchanged numbers with him so as to keep in contact with him, maybe even hang out as friends but he never called them. He never had the time or that’s what he’s been telling himself.

Getting dressed got easier as he learned to live up on the surface. The humans thought his battle body weird so sans had suggested a change in wardrobe. T-shirts and light clothing in the summer, long sleeves and pants in the winter. Not that skeletons feel changes in temperature but it was to keep from getting weird looks from the humans. Er weirder looks. He held onto the scarf though no matter what season, it reminded him his home, the underground. While living on the surface was pretty and he was grateful to see the sunrises and the beaches he saw his house as just that. A house, it was missing something that only existed back in snowdin.

His house was nice, thats what he got told anyway. He didn’t pick it out, sans did. It had a large living room for guests and a kitchen with an island and stools to accommodate.  The upstairs had a guest room down the hall across from sans room. Papyrus's was beside his brothers and across from the bathroom. The backyard was huge, it had a deck at one point but Undyne’s and his rough housing one year at a birthday celebration brought the roof down so sans disassembled it. The wood filled that night’s fire pit. The grass had just started growing back a few years ago so it’s a bit lighter in color than the rest of the grass but aside from that its coming in nicely.

Since papyrus worked so often he didn’t eat as much as he knew he should of. His friends knew this and they tried to convince him to eat more when they were over. They weren't over much with his hectic hours as of late. He had taken a liking to a cheap brand of yogurt covered granola bar he found in the snack aisle of the grocery store so he'd munch on those through the day. He tried to avoid work and food subjects with his friends as much as possible so they didn’t lecture him. Actually he avoided a lot of things lately he's noticed when rifling through the near empty cupboards, the fridge not looking any fuller. Filling a cup with filtered water from the fridge door he wondered if this is what sans felt like when he worked multiple jobs to support the house. Was he always afraid something would happen? That something would break? That a bill would be too far overdue and get shut off? Did he know that he could've gone to any one of their friends and asked for help? Was he scared of their reaction? He asked himself all these questions about his brother, it wasn't until mid-chew of his final bit of granola bar did he ask himself, is that what I'm doing? He didn’t like thinking that he was probably trailing down the same path as his brother.

It had been a few years since Sans had fallen down and then dusted. It happened a couple years after they emerged from the mountain. He looked the happiest papyrus had ever seen him, so when it happened it shocked Papyrus to the core. It could of been the change of scenery, the stress of monster life on the surface or something that papyrus hadn't seen. He beat himself up over his brother's death for months, probably a year, he felt like there must of been something more he could have done and no matter how much reassurance he got from his friends around him he couldn't be convinced that things would be okay. Relying so heavily on his brother for so long left him empty when sans had dusted. Papyrus had holed up in his bed room, staring up at the ceiling for hours at a time which slowly morphed to days. He lived off the savings his brother left behind and when those had run out the bills began piling up. The power had got shut off, leaving him in the dark and the water was next. He was about to fall too if it hadn't been for frisk's text messages. 

Frisk, everyone had tried to get Papyrus to snap out of the shock he was in. He'd laid in his bed for months just reading what frisk sent him, never messaging back. He read them over and over, the kind messages the small human would send him. They made him cry a lot of the time. The messages sent usually read things like:

"yea my bros pretty cool" 

and

"hey yea tell tori paps an i will be by tmrrw"

or

"tell paps im wrkng late wont be there to read his story but tell him goodnight for me will ya?"

That last one was his favorite. Even years later he liked to reread that message every now and again so he could think for just a little bit that his brother was working late. He knew it was foolish to think that way, that one day his brother would waltz in the front door, throw his shoes in the middle of the living room and slouch on the couch, one eye open and greet him with that silly, tired grin. He was a mess that first year after sans was gone. He wouldn't eat or leave the house, the only way his friends still knew he was alive was through his and frisk's texting. If asked Frisk would say that Papyrus got the strength to continue on all on his own but after things started to look up for the skeleton; Papyrus stuck closer to his human friend than he did his captain, Undyne or Idol, Mettaton. 

He worked three jobs, one was only a temp position down at the big warehouse, preparation for giftmas. Or Christmas they call it on the surface. He worked that job on the weekends and every other Friday. His other two jobs were working with the queen in her school. He works clean up at night and does a bit of teaching during the day. He jumps around from class to class as a teacher’s assistant but he like to hang around the math class. Math equations are just more complex puzzles. He liked working there, that and Toriel insisted with that scary motherly face she makes. He thinks she wanted to keep an eye on him.

Papyrus enjoyed walking home as opposed to driving to and from the school. It gave him time to think and sort out the days happenings before going home and falling in his bed. 

As the years went by Papyrus saw himself become quieter and quieter, he left his house for what was necessary, work and groceries. Sometimes there would be an event at Toriel’s house like a celebration of the barrier braking or a birthday. Some years frisk would be there, some years they wouldn’t. Eventually Undyne and Alphys got married, it finally became legal in the eyes of the law, they moved away to where ever anime comes from. Asgore seemed to have gotten ill years later after that and met his fate with a pile of dust in his bed. It took the dogs 3 days before they figured it out and found him tucked under his blankets. Toriel was stricken with grief but held on. Frisk grew older and older, coming back a couple times a year to check on the few left. They never spoke much but their eyes said a lot, they never got over sans’ dusting either. They looked as if they felt they could of done more too. 

Papyrus continued age, slow as monsters do, he began to forget his brother. What he looked like, how he sounded. Who he was as a person and what he did for Papyrus. In his older age he looked around and saw that many years had gone by, that Toriel, his queen was missing. His best friend and her wife never called to say happy birthday for the 12th year in a row, mettaton was a forgotten name. Rusted among the racism that appeared and then disappeared when the monsters arrived. He realized Frisk, his once young human friend was no longer young or even alive. Looking around him he saw that all the things that he and the others had wanted so badly and here they were, right in hands reach but he didn’t want them. 

No.

He wanted his human friend back, he wanted the king that would make him golden flower tea when he was feeling down, he wanted the tall graceful monster that would laugh at the terrible puns he’d accidentally mutter in place of someone who should have been there. He wanted his anime night buddies to gush with and eat copious amount of sugar before trying to sleep on his plush living room floor. He wanted a brother he could no longer remember but knew was once so great, greater than he. 

He once thought a red sports car and a beautiful sun set was all he needed when he got to the surface. To see the beauty the surface had to offer and the wind in his hair. 

He visits the underground every now and again just to see how it is. Monsters still live there, grillby’s grandchildren run the bar. He visits his old house in snowdin to try to relive some memories that are just out of his reach. His brother’s bedroom still smells like socks, while nearly empty it still had that mattress in the corner. He’s surprised no one has tried to sell the house in the time that he’s been gone. Papyrus curls up on the mattress, laying and open palm on the dirtied material he closes his eyes for a nap. One just like sans used to take when they lived in the tiny house. This time when he shut his eyes he couldn’t find the strength to open them again.

“welcome home bro”

**Author's Note:**

> Added 11/2/2016


End file.
